Prepping the model for rigging

…Before you actually start rigging the character, you want to make sure that your…geometry is set up to make rigging as easy as possible.…You want to make sure that your character is the proper scale.…And you also want to make sure that your character is in a neutral pose.…Here I have the character with his arms outstretched.…And this will make rigging much easier because this is a very…good neutral pose to start with.…Now, you want to also make sure that the density of your geometry is not too much.…Here, we have this particular character and…we have kind of a light to medium level of density.…

This should be enough to rig the character and get good deformations but…not enough so that we have too much detail to worry about.…We can always smooth our character later.…Another thing is how you want to segment your model.…You can make your model all one mesh, and…that will make it a little bit easier to manage in terms of geometry, but…sometimes it's easier to have a separate head for facial animation and rigging.…

Resume Transcript Auto-Scroll

Author

Released

8/12/2014

3ds Max is a powerful 3D application with great rigging tools. This course covers the complete workflow for rigging characters for realistic motion and animation. Author George Maestri shows how to prep your model, draw a skeleton, and add controls: foot and leg controls, hip and spine controls, and controls that allow the animator to toggle between inverse and forward kinematics (IK/FK). Plus, learn to how to skin your character, and create hand and face rigs that allow for greater control over delicate hand movements and facial expressions.